Inside Inventor Simone Giertz’s Small Los Angeles Home, 58sqm/630sqft

Never Too Small

Subscribe to the NTS Magazine Sub Club by January 17th to get Issue 2, free worldwide shipping and 10% off our books and publications: https://www.nts-store.com/   Inventor and product designer Simone Giertz of popular youtube channel @simonegiertz has turned her compact Los Angeles home into a functional, playful space that reflects her inventive spirit and Swedish roots. Embracing imperfections like uneven walls, custom designs maximise every inch  from a bed platform with built-in storage to a staircase that doubles as shoe and jacket storage. A modular shelving unit, dual-purpose puzzle table, and size adjustable fruit bowl are just a few of her creative solutions. A handcrafted stained glass window, inspired by a lemon tree, adds charm, while a plant-inspired lamp and a “plant stripper pole” blends practicality with whimsy.   00:00-02:34 Introduction 02:34-03:40 Entrance 03:40-07:01 Living Room  07:01-08:28 Dining Area 08:28-11:21 Kitchen 11:21-16:18 Bedroom 16:18-17:40 Bathroom  17:40- 17:51 Workshop  17:51-18:44 Conclusion  #smallapartment #architecture #interiordesign   How I live small Ep.4  Owner: Simone Giertz www.youtube.com/@simonegiertz  Produced by New Mac Video Agency Creator: Colin Chee Director: James McPherson Cinematographer: Scott Sorensen Producer: Luke Clark Editor: Jessica Ruasol Music: Artlist.io Squoosh! by Jimit Jazzlude V Process by Walz Sleep Well by 4oresight Late Night by Myself by Simon Berggren Smoothie by NiBaum New Day by Aves Trippin by Benny Bronco Umi Replies by Walz Double by Walz Hold On by Ottom Anytime by Walz  Twilight Song by Simon Berggren Shine feat Helios Amor by Skygaze  Up and Over by Liron Yuval  Share you projects with us- https://www.nevertoosmall.com/submissions Subscribe to our newsletter- https://www.nevertoosmall.com/subscribe  Check out our store- https://www.nts-store.com Website- https://www.nevertoosmall.com Instagram-  https://www.instagram.com/nvtsmall Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/nvtsmall

Transcript

00:01if I could choose I would probably want to live in Bilbo Baggins home that's kind of

00:08like the pinnacle of coziness to me since I get a lot of my adventure through work

00:17when I get home I just want to like feel like I'm being held

00:27my name is Simone I am an inventor and product designer I actually started out my career

00:36building shitty robots that's like what most people would know me for these days I try to

00:48think a lot about everyday objects and kind of create unique solutions to everyday problems

00:58I live in Los Angeles but I'm from Stockholm Sweden this house is 630 square feet so about 58 square

01:07meters I live here with scraps the dog futz the cat and then Tobin the foster dog I've lived here

01:17for

01:17four years so it's a pretty small house it's a one bedroom one bathroom it's still like a lean

01:25machine and very functional I think of the house like the Lego song everything is awesome but it's

01:33like everything is custom I've always been drawn to like unconventional homes when I was 20 I bought a

01:42houseboat and I renovated and lived on this old tugboat in Stockholm what I like about living small

01:48and in like unconventional spaces is that it's such a design challenge like it creates very clear

01:55parameters for you where it's like okay this is the corner that I have to work with how can I

02:00make it the

02:01best it can be I got this old electricians tool that I turned into like a sunglass key station and

02:11then

02:11this is an old fire alarm that I made into my little key holder I don't want to live there

02:18but for some

02:19reason in like my decor I'm very nostalgic for Sweden my mom and I put up this wallpaper together she

02:26is good

02:27at wallpaper lots of nods to leaves and nature and like leaf patterns and things like that here is an

02:35old bridal chest that we've had in our family since at least 1733 so this is like been passed down

02:41for

02:42generations of women I think that's like one of the things as an emigrant from Sweden where you're like

02:48oh when I actually bring stuff over from Sweden that's when it feels like okay I live here permanently

02:55but also I've been here for 10 years so I store my hiking gear in here which I guess is

03:01the opposite

03:02of uh I don't know putting in linen to get married I made the first version of this in 2016

03:12we even make

03:13these little button coasters yeah it's a side table that looks like a thread spool it has storage in

03:19here I store yarn in there for knitting I also just think there's something funny about having bigotures

03:27so like big versions of small objects in a very small house exhibit B

03:35the house was in pretty good shape the foundation needed a lot of work uh there was a lot of

03:41like

03:41millennial gray and the layout was a bit different but like the core of it was always really good the

03:48work I got to do when it was like the fun stuff I didn't have to do a lot of

03:52the like really hard

03:53renovation stuff I made this lamp because I thought it would be really nice to have a light where instead

04:03of there being like a fabric cover like the leaves of a plant kind of become the cover so this

04:09is plamp

04:10which is a pot lamp combo this is the first version of it I want to make a second version

04:16of it but I

04:17think it's gorgeous to just have this like hanging plant this grows so fast though that I have to keep

04:22on like rehanging it and kind of snaking it up

04:28this room is just such a gorgeous part of the house I don't know it just feels very uh medieval

04:35hall

04:36in a weird way except that this is like very much not structural like they're purely decorative but I

04:43appreciate whoever put those in one of the big differences between Swedish and American architecture

04:49is that Americans don't have hallways you enter the home and you're like in the living room and I'm like

04:54where do you put your shoes where do you put your jackets and that was really something that was

04:58lacking in this house so I rebuilt the staircase to the loft to have um shoes storage and also added

05:06like two cabinets to it where I can hang jackets and put bags and things like that

05:12I added all of these extra shelves I made the drawers when I moved in there was more shelf here

05:18and where the previous owner had a tv but since I have a projector I just opened this up and

05:25built this

05:26little console it's a bit of an embarrassing story but uh my favorite movie is frozen my friend was a

05:33muralist for Disney and she did all the frozen murals for like their rides and things like that and I

05:39asked

05:39her to do this for me because I don't know don't let it go this is actually a staircase that

05:46leads up

05:48to a loft I made the stained glass window this was the first stained glass project I ever made

05:53which was an ambitious start I just can't believe that I made this it has a window and when I

06:02moved

06:02in here it was just a set of doors and they didn't let any light through but I wanted more

06:07light in this

06:08room so I made this stained glass window in honor of a lemon tree that I killed in the front

06:14yard and

06:15you can look there if you promise not to judge me this is on my to-do list okay I

06:23would turn it

06:23into functional space except that it gets so warm up there this is something that my ex-boyfriend

06:32actually custom built for my house in San Francisco but then I brought it here and it kind of magically

06:38fit here as well so it's where I have like hats and scarves and stuff this is dog gear dog

06:45toys

06:46e-bike helmet and then this I guess is my home gym this is where I get buff

06:54this is one of my proudest creations I love working on jigsaw puzzles but I don't like how much table

07:01space it takes up so I was thinking like can I make a table where I can switch between two

07:07table tops

07:08I added bench seating as well for one because it adds storage but it also I could like if we

07:16really

07:16wanted to probably fit seven people around here so there's a Swedish saying

07:24which translates to if there's heart room there's butt room

07:29there was a German painter who watched the video of me making this table and there's this point where

07:36I'm so frustrated with the build that I kind of laid on top of it and he thought it was

07:41a very

07:42dramatic pose so he made this oil painting I don't like that I am at the stage in my life

07:47where I have

07:48oil paintings of myself in my house but I feel like this is an edge case and an exception this

07:56when I

07:56moved in here there was a bookshelf that kind of went up to here and I extended the top and

08:04kind of

08:05made it into a seating area so for one you'd have more kitchen counter area but also if you're hanging

08:11out and cooking you can like do it with other people oh this one's nice this is my mechanical fruit

08:18bowl

08:18because I got frustrated that I always had too much or too little fruit from my fruit bowl so either

08:23it like

08:23was overfilling or it looked really empty so I thought what if you can make a fruit bowl

08:27that changes size depending on how much fruit you have in there so instead of having like three

08:32different bowls you can just have one that changes size

08:39these were the cabinets that were here when I moved in and it's just like old Ikea MDF cabinets

08:44but I routed these ridges on it because I wanted to give it a little bit more of a farmhouse

08:49look

08:49I felt like a really low stake modification to do because I was just using the stuff I already had

08:55and that needed to be switched out and I mean I've got another four years out of them the hardware's

09:00got to go though because it looks like nipple piercings and I cannot

09:07it's definitely a little bit of a death match between kitchen appliances of like who gets to earn their spot

09:13but these are the winners blender coffee grinder espresso machine water boiler and bread maker air

09:22fryer no you don't win so this is like a weird space here that's really narrow next to the fridge

09:30I looked for a really long time to try to find narrow enough shelves and then I realized I have

09:35the power

09:35to make things they're sagging from the weight of everything but also who isn't please make sure that

09:42you get a lot of coverage of this area especially the ceiling that got torn down and then never put

09:48back in place and my milk crates believe it or not this used to be worse I want to make

09:54some sort of

09:56shelving system where you can pull it out and then have it come down because obviously one of the main

10:02issues with on top of fridge accessibility is even if you have cabinets like you need to get up on

10:07a

10:07step stool to kind of access to it and it's really deep so I'm thinking like something that

10:12I made these custom floor vents because it was just like boring grates I was like yeah let's make a

10:20more decorative version of it do you like them Tobin we're getting helicopter tail

10:26I was like whoever is selling this house is really going to care about who it goes to

10:30and I tried to make sure that I like showed them that I would be a good custodian of the

10:37house because

10:37I think one of my big fears if I ever sell this is that somebody would do like a Home

10:43Depot flip

10:43I just want it to stay weird

10:48welcome to my bedroom

10:50so I got really frustrated that I couldn't fit a coat rack in my bedroom and I thought like what

10:56if

10:56you could have coat hangers that fold in half so that they can hang half the distance from the wall

11:01and uh yeah this is the coat hinges we also made this grooved rod to make sure that they can't

11:07like

11:07fall askew but also if they don't have the grooved rod they have a tendency to kind of flop over

11:12to one

11:12side I just made this prototype so you I made the first version of this four years ago and then

11:18it was

11:18about three years of development to get to this point where it's this simple of a design

11:24this isn't even all of them also what I like about it is that it comes apart so if you

11:30just want to

11:30hang your pants you can we also have these s hooks so if you just want a hook to like

11:36hang some stuff

11:37on you can these are available at yetch.store which is my product company a lot of the things that

11:44I've

11:45built have been inspired by this house like the coat hinder is because of this house I think that's

11:52something that's really important to me is having a living space that inspires that creativity and

11:58that like kind of poses interesting problems in a way and I think living in a smaller area definitely

12:05makes you think a lot about the objects that you have in there when I moved in here the bed

12:11was in

12:12the middle of this room and there was a tall Ikea wardrobe on the right and a tall Ikea wardrobe

12:18on

12:18the left and it made the whole room really difficult to get around like it felt really narrow and crammed

12:24so what I did was built this platform to put the bed on top of and now I have clothing

12:31storage in here

12:33this is on casters and then back here I have suitcases and things like that and now temporarily

12:40I have Tobin's bed scrap sleeps up in the bed with me and then I added sheets and cozy stuff

12:50and towels

12:52I just think it's so cozy to climb up in a bed like you're a little creature crawling up into

12:58a treehouse

12:59and kind of in honor of the treehouse comparison I made this headboard and that I embedded lights in

13:08I took plywood and then I used my CNC to make these pockets that I then inlaid felt in

13:16so this is my desk I don't do a terrible amount of work here because I'm always down in the

13:22workshop

13:23but if I ever need to sew or like record a podcast or something I'm usually in here just to

13:29be out of

13:30people's way this is the latest version of a project that we're petitioning to become a product

13:35I wanted to make a chair that had a staircase for scraps to get up and down to my lap

13:41and that I

13:41also had like an extra broad seat so she could sit next to me this is definitely a prototype

13:47don't look at all my seams also I'm still figuring out the size and the positioning of the stairs

13:52yeah but this one when I'm working she can like have full access to my lap and kind of just

13:59chill

14:00next to me good girl hi this is the everyday calendar this was the first product that I ever made

14:07because I wanted to make sure that I meditated every day and I wanted like a visual representation

14:13of the streak that I had and I thought like instead of just like having little grids that you cross

14:18like what if you made a really pretty version of it I made these light switches to match the bed

14:24because I had a bunch of leftover materials I think the the mantra that I've had for myself is I'd

14:31rather have weird than boring and ugly than boring so it's like even if I make a custom light switch

14:37that's not like the most beautiful at least it's not going to be boring one of the good things about

14:44being a builder is that nothing has to be permanent like I kind of feel the house as a constant

14:51experience

14:51like experiment I'll try out and living with an object and then I'll see how it works and then some

14:57make it and become permanent fixtures of the house and then some I'm just like that was fun but I

15:02can

15:02always switch back to like having the boring version of it and here is my laundry chute slash

15:10um escape hatch for only very small people maybe the dog I could throw the dog in there in a

15:15pinch

15:17so this is what I call the plant stripper pole you can move these around so depending on how your

15:24plants grow you can kind of configure it configure them in different ways one of the things that I've

15:29learned from having this is that I never move them like I really only have them in the same place

15:35it does a good job of like fitting a bunch of plants in a small space and I also don't

15:43have to

15:43put up a million shelves on the wall

15:49this is the bathroom I love this bathtub purely because of its looks I've maybe filled it with water

15:57twice since moving in here like I'm not I'm not a bath person I shower I just don't use it

16:03as a bathtub

16:04the bathroom had this floor and I made these custom cabinets in honor of the floor I think

16:12that's one of the things that's been really fun with designing from this house is I take a lot of

16:16design cues from the things that already exist and I'm like how can we celebrate that this is vinyl

16:22wallpaper so it's basically like giant stickers which I do not recommend they've shrunk over the

16:29year so I've gotten these gaps in them whatever those are the things that it's like an eyesore

16:34for me but other people probably don't care that much here is my dedicated toilet paper shelf for

16:40my collection of toilet paper rolls I like the idea of taking something that you usually hide away and

16:48like putting it on display and kind of just making a weird like yeah this is my dedicated toilet paper

16:55shelf this room is definitely a work in progress I want to get another sink because this one isn't

17:02very pretty and I'm thinking like some weirder hardware but TBD

17:09and then back here is the workshop this is what I call the butthole of the house because it's

17:13purely there for its function and I have no aspiration for it to be pretty

17:19this house this house is the first house that I have that I'm like this is like I love it

17:25there's not a straight wall in this entire house and it's just generations upon generations of people

17:32kind of winging it and I really like that because I feel like I can kind of do my own

17:37thing and not

17:38feel guilty about it it would be nice to have another bedroom and bathroom all of that but like

17:47for now it's like the perfect space for me I just need a place to recover that feels like a

17:55creative canvas

17:56it feels like a little spa for my brain

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